


Hush little baby

by jjjat3am



Category: Almost Human
Genre: Kidfic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2018-01-13 11:01:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1223830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjjat3am/pseuds/jjjat3am
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian and John find a baby at a crime scene and must look after her at the precinct while the paperwork is being sorted out. </p><p>Dorian forges an immediate bond with her and John is completely out of his depth and somehow in awe of the two of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hush little baby

**Author's Note:**

> Original prompt:  
> How about this; John and Dorian having to look after a newborn baby girl back at the station after they found her left at a crime scene and there's nobody else to watch her. John is disgruntled and not very happy about the situation (at first! He warms up! :3) but Dorian is great with her and a natural and there's just lots of cops-being-huge-softies cuteness. (Not necessarily established Jorian romance imo but if you want to make it so that's up to you!)
> 
> cross-posted to [my tumblr](http://jjjat3am.tumblr.com/post/77526096083/are-you-taking-almost-human-fic-prompts-how-about)
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

 

 

 

“Do you hear that?”

 

Dorian’s information webs are flashing like crazy and his sharp question makes John look up from where he’s cuffing their suspect.

 

“Dorian?  What is it?” The android still has the gun held loosely in one hand, ready to defend in a moment’s notice and he’s through the door while John is still in the middle of setting up a force field to hold the suspect until the MXs arrive. John swears.

 

There’s no sound of gunfire yet, but that doesn’t mean Dorian isn’t in danger, so John follows as quickly and quietly as he’s able.

 

The door at the end of the hall is open and John bursts in, gun ready and thinking the worst, only to find his partner bent over…a cradle?

 

“It’s a baby.” Says Dorian and there’s a note of wonder in his voice that John hadn’t heard before. So he holsters his gun and comes closer. In the cradle there is, indeed, a baby, cheeks still wet from where it had been crying, presumably before Dorian arrived.

 

John watches as his partner reaches out to touch the tip of his finger to the baby’s cheek. His hand lights up and the baby gurgles in delight over the light show. Dorian smiles at it and John wonders if he’d even seen a baby in real life before.

 

“Her name is Adriana, she’s 8 months old. Our suspect is the father, mother is still missing. Both were Benmorphine users and dealers. No other living relatives.” John nods thoughtfully, still stuck on the way the little girl is now trying to reach for Dorian’s hand, lit up in blue.

 

“Alright, I’ll call the chief, see if she can contact Child Protective services. I’ll have someone come pick her up.”

 

“We can drive her to the station.” Dorian looks determined.

 

“Are you crazy? I don’t know how to care for a baby.” Dorian reaches down and picks the baby up in a way that looks easy and practiced. She doesn’t let out a sound, simply burrowing down into Dorian’s jacket. It’s obvious from the way he wraps the blanket around her and holds her close that he isn’t ready to let her go, so John just sighs.

 

“You better be programmed with diaper changing skills.” He says and starts searching the room for baby formula and clean clothes.

 

Half an hour later, the flat is empty of the suspect, but filled with MXs that keep acting strangely around the baby and asking John if they have enough food for the child and if it is being kept warm enough by the inferior DRN. John is half-afraid that they might kidnap a breastfeeding lady if he says no, so he just orders them out. Dorian has things well in hand anyway.

 

Little Adriana is fed, burped and changed, all the while being peppered with kisses andmurmured endearments, distracted by blue lights when needed. The pair isn’t paying John any attention, which is a good thing, since he’s having trouble hiding his bemusement over the proceedings.

 

Finally, they head to the car, Adriana gently carried by Dorian and John weighted down by bags of diapers, clothes and baby formula. He makes sure to drive very carefully on the way to the station, helped along by the fact that Dorian glares at him every time the car goes over a bump on the road. The baby falls asleep somewhere on the way, laid out on Dorian’s chest and drooling.

 

They settle in Maldonado’s office, Adriana still soundly asleep, oblivious to Valerie’s cooing and Richard’s mutterings. When she wakes up and starts fussing, Sandra pulls a soft cuddly teddy bear from somewhere in her desk and that calms her right down. The MXs start stock piling emergency blankets and pillows in front of the office door.

 

Through it all, Dorian hardly lets go of her, ready to attend her every need. In the absence of paperwork, John has too much time to watch them, the way Dorian seems to instinctively know when to cuddle and when to give space, when to change a diaper or when to sing a lullaby.

 

Dorian brings Adriana to John’s post a few times, introducing him as: John, Mr. McGrumpy Pants, Frowny Frownykins and his partner, respectively. Each time John is introduced, Adriana wrinkles her nose, which Dorian seems to find hilarious, because he says she’s imitating John’s frown. So when she does it again, John reaches out with his hand, smoothing out the wrinkles and bopping her nose gently. She breaks out into the biggest grin, telling Dorian, whose grin is almost as big, something in her baby speak. She starts flailing her tiny hands in John’s direction and he submits himself to obligatory inspection, even when she grips his hair too tightly and almost pulls it out. She bops his nose back awkwardly and seems very satisfied with her accomplishment.

 

A few hours later, the paperwork is sorted and an employee of the Social Services comes to take Adriana to her temporary foster home. John, who has been watching his partner fall progressively more in love with the little girl, is dreading this moment.

 

At first, everything seems to be going well, Dorian gently deposits the baby in the woman’s arms and presses a kiss against her brow. But the moment that Adriana realizes that she’s being taken away from Dorian, she starts crying. It’s a heart-breaking sound, especially combined with the look on Dorian’s face. He fakes a smile to calm the little girl, but John knows enough to see how much the separation pains him.

 

The woman carries the crying baby carefully away, a baffled MX trailing after her with the bag, leaving John and Dorian alone in the office.

 

Not for the first time, John wonders if Dorian can cry, if Vaughn had bothered to build tear ducts into the DRN, if he’d planned for them to feel strongly enough to need them. Dorian is standing stock still, head bowed, and every line of him fraught with tension and John thinks it cruel that he shouldn’t be given even that one respite, to be able to ease the pain with tears.

 

So he steps forward and rests his hand gently on Dorian’s shoulder. Dorian turns and the expression on his face is so painful that John has to pull him the rest of the way into an embrace.

 

He holds him like that until Dorian stops shaking, until his information net turns to familiar blue, instead of just a blur of color.

 

“John?” He asks, mouth still almost pressed against John’s neck.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Do you think you’ll ever want to have kids?”

 

“I don’t know. I’m not very good with them, it turns out.”

 

“Oh.”

 

 

“Dorian?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“When I have kids, you’ll have to be the one to change their diapers.” A soft snort against his neck.

 

“What will your future wife have to say?”

 

“Honestly…I’ll probably adopt.”

 

“Oh.” Dorian pulls back to look at him and John just raises his eyebrow at him. “ _Oh._ ”

 

“Yep.” He looks honestly stupefied, so John reaches out a hand and uses his finger to gently bop his nose.

 

They stare at each other in silence for a moment and then both dissolve into laughter.

 

When their chuckles die down, John’s cheeks are slightly wet. If anyone asks, it’s from laughter.

 

 

 


End file.
